TAKE A BOW, SOX
They haven’t won anything yet, but it’s OK to appreciate 1st half
It’s true, the Red Sox have not done jack yet.
They haven’t clinched a playoff spot, they haven’t dodged a wild card berth, they haven’t won the American League East and they certainly haven’t won it all.
I mean, if they go out and play .500 ball over their final 64 games, they can only win 100 games.
So, yeah, there’s only so much celebrating to be done for a team with a 68-30 record that has its largest division lead of the season (41⁄2 games) entering the AllStar break.
But may I suggest at the beginning of this four-day stretch when no meaningful baseball games will be played, that fans take a slow, deep breath and pause to reflect and then admit just how sweet a spot the 2018 Red Sox find themselves.
They aren’t perfect — nobody hit a grand slam in yesterday’s 5-2 in over Toronto — but they have fewer problems than nearly every other team.
They have the best record in baseball, their offense scores more than any other team, they have two MVP candidates in Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez, a Cy Young candidate in Chris Sale and a Manager of the Year contender in Alex Cora.
What the Red Sox have accomplished in their first 98 games is remarkable.
It’s true that it won’t mean squat if they falter down the stretch or flame out in October.
But in this quiet July interlude, go ahead.
Life is short. Relish the 2018 Red Sox.
“It’s not like because we had a good first half of the season, it’s granted that we’re going to go all the way,” Cora said after the club’s fifth starter, Brian Johnson, lasted only 42⁄3 innings but the bullpen and the lineup were good enough to patch together another solid victory. “We’ve got, what, 64 more games in the regular season? We’re going to keep playing the way we’re playing and put pressure on people, and we win, we lose, we turn the page. Keep moving. Keep moving. But we’re in a good place. I mean, I’m proud of what they have accomplished.”
He should be.
Pride counts.
It will count a lot more in late October if it’s still there. In mid-July, it still counts. “I think we’ve been very consistent throughout the season, and I still feel that we can be better,” said Cora. “There’s a few things that we can improve, and that’s a good thing. We’ve still got some challenges in front of us.”
One challenge certainly is the news that Eduardo Rodriguez sustained “serious damage” to his ankle ligaments on Saturday, and that while the team is optimistic he can pitch again this season, there are no assurances.
Every team goes through its injuries every season, and the Red Sox have had their setbacks — see Dustin Pedroia, Carson Smith, Tyler Thornburg, Steven Wright, Rafael Devers, even Betts — and who knows yet how they will handle the loss of Rodriguez for an extended period of time.
Perhaps they will have to trade for a starter.
But again, that will play itself out. Can’t see that far into the future.
For now, the Red Sox see how far they’ve come and how far they still have to go.
“Obviously we have something real nice going on with this team,” Xander Bogaerts said. “Everyone, a lot of guys starting to heat up lately. It’s tough to go into the break with some guys heating up like that. But hopefully when we come back we’ll pick it up right where we are now.
“We’ll go home, enjoy that, look back at the good moments, and then come back and be brothers again.”
This is not only a tight Red Sox team, but one with a long memory. Meaning, they’re not complacent.
“They have it, they understand that the last few years, they didn’t finish it, they didn’t finish it,” said Cora. “They know it. I go back to that meeting in spring training, there’s only one pitcher down there with a World Series ring and it’s (Brandon) Workman. David (Price) doesn’t have a World Series ring, Chris Sale, (Craig) Kimbrel. They’ve been great baseball players — you look at their career and they retire right now they should be proud of their accomplishments. But at the same time, they want a ring, they want it. That’s what they’re pushing for.”
How far the Red Sox can push themselves, we’ll see.
Until then, enjoy this vista at this rest stop.
It’s as good as it gets.